Learning Blog 3: Project Summary

The aim of my project was to ‘Asses the effects of the inclusion of creative dance in a private sector ballet class on the students syllabus work’ and the following were the main project findings:

- Creative dance is not a style of dance but rather a process by which dance is created which encourages self- expression and exploration of self, an idea or the social world. Creative dance in essence cannot be neatly defined as it is personal to each dancer.

- The educational approaches taken the ISTD and the Public Sector (State Schools) can be explained by the mission of the ISTD to provide technical training for the dance profession and within state schools the creative educational aims set out by the government.

- That in the situation of Action Research group one the inclusion of creative dance had a positive effect on student’s performance skills within their set syllabi ballet work. In the situation of the Action Research conducted although an improvement in technique was seen this is unlikely to be attributed to the inclusion of creative dance.

- Within the situations of the Action Research and those within the Royal Academy of Dance Case studies the inclusion of creative dance enhanced the student’s enjoyment of dance.

The main benefits of my findings are my enhanced knowledge of creative dance, the conclusion that it is possible that the low confidence in adolescent (self-esteem) can be detrimental to the application of learning. The main benefit I have learnt that within the scope of my professional practice the inclusion of creative dance enhances the enjoyment of the dance education they receive and with younger students a positive effect is seen on the performance skills required for syllabi